Making small business marketing simple, automatic and profitable

Your Editorial Calendar – Pt 1 of 2 – Day 11 of the 31 Day Challenge

This post was actually supposed to be done yesterday, but I got so wrapped up in the exercise for Day 11 that I completely forgot to write the post!

The exercise got me thinking about who are you – my readers? What do you want to read, and what do you need to read?

Terry Dean says you should always give readers what they want, and slide in what they need. Kind of like how our parents handled vegetables. ;-0

Even though quite a few copywriters read this blog, they really aren’t my focus. My interest and passion lies in helping business owners make the most of their internet presence. That’s why I’ve written books about information marketing, internet marketing and social media.

With the tools Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog is giving me, and what I did yesterday, I have a whole editorial calendar. That feels pretty neat. It makes me feel like I’ve taken a step toward being more professional and polished. Of course, my writing voice is going to stay casual and relaxed, but I can see me getting more regular (daily would be a good thing) about writing posts, and being more organised in presenting material.

Maybe I’ll even stop using bulky compound sentences like that last one. 😉

That gives me a monthly cycle that helps business owners do what they want to do: small business marketing.

I hope it will be helpful to copywriters, too. They can see how to help their clients.

During each week, I can vary the type of post – list, linked, extended, opinion, etc. Naturally, a lot of the posts will combine information from the four topic areas. For example, I can include a couple of paragraphs about how to include social media in your traditional media marketing. Or write about how to do the copywriting for your information products.

This exercise gave me good external structure – very good for the ADD in me. It also gives you a foretaste of what is coming from day to day, and week to week. For someone new to the blog, they should have an easy time picking up the pattern by reading through the archives.

By the way, have you ever thought of using the archives on blogs as a research tool? You probably have, but I thought it would be good to mention.

Whether you’re using your blog to generate income, or you’re a Red Shoes Blogger (you’re writing about your passion), you should put together an editorial calendar. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it make writing the posts. I feel a thousand times more comfortable now because I won’t have to think “What do I write about” every time I sit down to do a post.

I even suggest getting a copy of Darren’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Just go to www.problogger.net – there’s an ad for it there. Or you could do a Google search on the title. It’s a lot more than just a series of exercises. Every day connects you to new resources, and there’s a forum where you can interact with other bloggers.

Thanks for reading. Go ahead and tell me about your editorial calendar. Would you like me to write a guest post for you? Or we can trade – you write a post for me, and I’ll write one for you.